Crown of Flowers
by Errand Girl
Summary: Something I thought up a while ago. SasuNaru. I don't own Naruto.


Crown of Flowers

It was snowing in Kannoha, something that only happened once a year. In one heavily crowded street a small child sat against a fence. People walked past, not even sparing the child a passing glance. The child was a girl, no older than five or six. Her long blond hair was tied into pigtails with old string. She was wearing a yellow, short sleeve shirt, a darkblue dress with a red symbol on the front and light blue shorts. A deep cut was on her leg and looked exceedingly painful. She was sitting with her legs drawn up trying to keep herself warm in the cold. This little girl was Naruto Uzumaki.

A small figure stopped in front of the little blonde girl. Naruto looked up to reveal two teary sapphire blue orbs. The one who had stopped in front of her was a boy of the same age. Onyx hair coming down to his equally dark eyes. He was wearing a dark roll neck shirt and gray shorts. The boy looked at Naruto while she trembled from cold and fear.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked.

Naruto looked at him in surprise. Had he seriously asked her about her well being? Naruto didn't say anything, she simply shook her head to answer 'no'.

The boy looked at her cut leg and sat down in front of her. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a roll of bandage cloth and began to wrap it around Naruto's leg. After he was done he looked Naruto in the face and smiled. His smile was so warm and kind.

"I'm Sasu."

Naruto blinked. "I-I'm Naru."

"Do you need some help getting home, Naru?"

"Home?"

Sasu blinked in surprise. "You do have a home, right? Where do you live?"

Naruto realised what Sasu must have been talking about. "Oh, you mean the apartment."

Naruto never really thought of the apartment as a home. It was full of spiders, always cold and she was always alone, except when the land lady came to yell at her and threaten to kick her out of the building for being loud (which was just a load of bull, since she was usually so quiet that, unless you knew she was there, you'd think the apartment was empty). No one was ever there to welcome her back. That wasn't her home. It was just a place she lived in.

Naruto shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Just as cold there as it is here." She leaned back against the wall again.

Sasu stared and Naruto in horror. "But you'll freeze out here!"

"That's okay," Naruto replied. "It doesn't matter. No one would miss me, they be happy I gone. I'm just a piece of scraped trash."

Sasu gritted his teeth. "That's not true!" Naruto looked at him in surprise, tears at the edges of her eyes threatening to spill. "I wouldn't be happy! I'd be sad! ...

**I really like you Naru!**"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock. No one had ever said that to her before. All anyone had said to her before was how useless she was, that she wasn't needed, wasn't wanted. But this boy had told her that he liked her, and that he would be sad if she were to die.

Sasu leaned over to her and put his arms around her. She was freezing. How long had she been sitting here? Who could have made her think that she was unwanted in this world? So many questions ran through his mind, but now wasn't the time for it. He had to get Naru out of the cold.

"You can stay at my home tonight." Sasu said.

Sasu drew back and helped Naruto to her feet. Her knee exploded in pain every time she tried to walk on that leg. As a result the two children had to walk, rather clumsily, with Naruto leaning heavily on Sasu's shoulder, in order to stay up right. Sasu held Naruto close, in order to try and keep her warm in the freezing cold.

"Little brother." Someone called from behind them.

The two children turned slightly, to see a tall young man with eyes and hair just like Sasu's.

"Big brother," Sasu called. Naruto just kept her mouth shut. In her experience, adults didn't like it when children Naruto's own age tried to consult with her.

The older male, whom was apparently Sasu's older brother, raised an eye brow at seeing the little girl in his little brother's arms. Not that he had anything wrong with it. It was simply unusual to see this kind of a situation in relation to his brother. Not to mention amusing.

"Who's your friend?" He asked.

"Her name is Naru." Sasu explained. "She hurt her leg and she says her home's heater is broken. She can stay with us Ita... Please."

'Naru' Ita thought that name sounded familiar. Then it clicked. 'Naru... Naruto', this girl was the carrier of the Kyuubi. That was why she was hurt. She must have been knocked over by one of the villagers. That thought made his blood boil, Naruto was containing the demon to prevent it from hurting anyone... she wasn't the demon herself. Ita didn't believe the demon as evil as everyone said anyway. Even a demon wouldn't attack a village of people on a whim. There was no point to it. A sudden thought hit him. Sasu had said that the heater at Naruto's was broken. He wondered for how long.

"First lets go to Naru's, maybe I can fix the heater." Ita walked over to the two and leaned down. "But first I believe a change of procedure, is in order."

With that said Ita picked the little girl up into his arms, with one arm under her legs and the other around her shoulders. Sasu was looking highly jealous, but not saying anything.

Ita hadn't been able to fix the heater, and had had a 'chat' with the Land Lady. Naruto ended up staying at Sasu's after all, falling asleep with him on the couch when he was reading to her.

Two weeks later Naruto was sitting in a field of flowers that Sasu had shown her. Sasu was a little ways off picking flowers one after another. When he seemed to be satisfied with his work he walked over to Naruto.

"Naru." Sasu called. Naruto turned to him as Sasu put a crown of flowers on her head. He smiled. "Fit for a princess."

Naru blushed and smiled. That was the last time she saw Sasu. He never came back to their flower field. Naruto heard later that the Uchiha clan had been all but wiped out, and pieced together that Sasu must had been a member of that clan. There was a group grave for the clan that she visited every time the snow came. She would place a crown of flowers on the grave.

*Years later*

Naruto picked flowers one after another carefully making a crown. When she was satisfied she stood and walked back to the house that she and her teammates were currently staying at.

Sasuke tried to ignore the constant chatter of Sakura next to him. He had been hurt but he was still alive, he didn't see why Sakura was making such a big deal of the needles that had been stuck through his neck. Sakura kept saying that she was going to give Naruto an ear full next time she saw her. He got the feeling that he was being watched and looked at the door. There just outside was Naruto. She hesitated at the door, trying to decide whether or not to go in. She decided she'd come this far, might as well follow through. Taking a deep breath she dashed up to Sasuke, stuck the crown she'd made earlier on his head then dashed off again before anyone could so much as blink. Sakura looked at the crown and frowned.

Kakashi sensei smiled. "Looks like Naruto's given you the highest level of honour, Sasuke."

Sasuke raised an eye brow at him. "A flower crown?"

Kakashi nodded and looked back at his book. "Iruka told me about it once. There was a boy that Naruto used to play with when they were little. One day he just stopped coming. Naruto still sees him though, and gives him a crown of flowers."

Sakura was confused. "How can she see him and give him something and not meet him?"

"She visits his grave."

Sasuke and Sakura were shocked. Naruto had given Sasuke something that she had only given one person before. Someone who was long dead.

"What was his name?" Sakura asked sadly.

"Sasu, I think."

Sasuke nearly choked. That was his childhood nick name.

Meanwhile Naruto was sitting in a tree, mentally kicking herself. That was so embarrassing. How can she face them after she gave Sasuke that crown? They probably didn't even know what it was for. Suddenly the wind picked up and blew her hair into her eyes. She sensed someone behind her but before she could react there were two arms around her and something was being pressed into her hand.

A whisper next to her ear, "I will wait for you my princess."

Naruto spun around, but who ever was there was gone. She opened her hand a gasped at the silver ring with a small sapphire in her hand.

"Sasu…"

Sasuke looked back at Naruto from his hiding place. "I will wait for you… Naru."


End file.
